The Power of the Whistler

Amnesia themes were a favorite of detective stories in the '40s, and THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER is no exception. A man who is befriended by a woman who senses danger in his future (JANIS CARTER) is unable to recall anything about his past. She and her sister both combine forces to delve into the few clues they found in the man's pockets and go about trying to hunt down someone who knows his identity.

If you can get past the implausibility of the set-up--a complete stranger (Carter) willing to become a full time detective upon short acquaintance of a man she knows nothing about--well, then you can sit back and watch the story unfold without too much cynicism.

The man's identity remains a teasing enigma up until the last fifteen minutes or so. JEFF DONNELL is the helpful sister who unravels a few clues of her own.

The script is full of loopholes, coincidences, contrivances, as all of these Whistler series are, but it makes an engrossing story if you're willing to suspend your disbelief.

... because the leading lady here (Janis Carter as Jean Lang) makes some very questionable moves regarding a stranger she sees in a restaurant (Richard Dix as the amnesiac). She is using cards to tell fortunes, and Dix is supposed to be in grave danger for the next 24 hours according to the cards. He is a total stranger to her and yet she gets up from the table and accosts him in the street about this. It turns out Dix is an amnesiac, a condition brought on by being hit by a car a short time before. Does she take him to the police or to a hospital? NO! She takes this total stranger home to sleep on her couch in the apartment she shares with her kid sister. Yikes!

So the guy has no ID on him. Just some clues in his pockets - a prescription, an order for a birthday cake from a bakery, a train schedule with a particular town circled, a cigarette lighter, receipt for two dozen roses, a Canadian dollar with a license number penciled in, and a key. So that night and the next day Jean and her sister embark on a kind of scavenger hunt, using these clues to establish who this guy is. Jean is paired with the amnesiac, her sister paired with her fiance, both teams using the clues they have. So the amnesiac seems gentle as a lamb, even making breakfast for Jean and her sister and saying grace before eating. But one thing Jean has got to notice - every time she leaves him alone and near an animal, she returns to find that animal dead. And yet she remains unalarmed.

It's a pretty interesting story how all of these Thin Man style clues are put together into a cohesive portrait of who this guy actually is. As usual in the Whistler series, it boasts a good noir atmosphere considering it was a Columbia quickie. As with several of the Whistler films, this one has the theme of unescapable destiny as the plot comes full circle.

Richard Dix plays...well, that's the secret. He gets hit by a car early on in the movie and gets one of those handy Hollywood cases of amnesia. Shortly after being hit, he's asked by a girl in a restaurant to be allowed to tell his fortune for a lark, to show her friends how it's done. The cards come up bad, and then his amnesia comes to light, causing the amateur fortuneteller to more or less adopt him so she can help him find out who he is. You'll notice that folks trust one another in this flick a lot more than they probably ever did in real life. With the results your parents probably warned you about. Dix, as usual, is great as this befuddled but somehow sinister stranger. This is perhaps the best of the Whistler movies. Warning: Implied violence to cuddly animals!

Jean Lang (Janis Carter) reads the Tarot cards for a man (Richard Dix) she sees sitting at a nightclub. The Death card (ace of spades) comes up twice. She goes to warn him and finds out he's got amnesia and can't remember who he is or how he got there. She searches through his wallet and finds various names and addresses which they visit to try to piece together who he is.

Fast-paced and VERY atmospheric (especially at the end) thriller. Just simply a good tight B picture that you can watch and kill time for about 70 minutes. The acting is good too--Carter is very good and even Dix (who I never liked) is pretty OK. This is worth watching just for the thunder and lightning final sequence--it really does work on you. My only complaint is the rather abrupt ending. It's very amusing to see how people in the movie readily help a total stranger without a care! How times have changed. Worth catching.

I really like The Whistler movies. Richard Dix plays a different role in each one. Sometimes he's a good guy, sometimes bad. The plot here has Dix as a man suffering from amnesia after being struck by a car. A woman (Janis Carter) playing around with tarot cards predicts death for Dix within 24 hours so she feels the need to warn him. She finds out he has lost his memory so she tries to help him figure out who he is so together they can prevent his death.

There is one part that amused me a great deal. It really has no significance to the plot or how much you will like the movie but I will share it anyway. During the first meeting of Dix and Carter, he feels faint so she opens a car door and they sit down in the back seat to talk. After their conversation, some guy gets in and is surprised to see them. He's the owner of the car! So the girl explains they just needed a place to sit down, to which the car owner replies "Oh okay" like it's perfectly normal. Then he offers to drive them some place! I don't know if this scene just shows how much times have changed or what, but it made me laugh when I watched it. I just can't see that scene playing out the same way in a movie today.

This is a fun B movie with some good performances and an interesting story. There are some bugs in the plot but nothing that detracts greatly from the entertainment level, at least for me. Fans of Dix and The Whistler series should like it a lot.